Welcome back for another installment of Friday Favorites. It’s been fun for me to think outside the box (the food box, that is) to give you some of my favorite things. I just can’t write that phrase without singing the song from Sound of Music in my head. 🙂

1. For your summer reading pleasure, I highly recommend Janet Oke’s Canadian West book series: When Calls the Heart, When Comes the Spring, When Breaks the Dawn, When Hope Springs New, Beyond the Gathering Storm and When Tomorrow Comes.

While at the homeschool conference, I attended a workshop about media and how it is influencing us. The speaker gave us three criteria to use when choosing what to consume in terms of books, TV, movies, music, internet, etc.: truth, goodness and beauty.

Is the story true?

Is it holding up morality as something to pursue?

Is it beautiful?

Janet Oke’s books are not true, but they are good and they are beautiful. There is a Hallmark Channel series now by the name of When Calls the Heart, which is based on this series. As with most situations of books being turned into movies or TV, the books are so much better, though the TV show is also very well done and I would say meets these criteria as well. If you’re looking for a nice story that will be uplifting, relaxing and enjoyable, look up Janet Oke.

2. Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Bread, specifically the Mountain White variety. There are paleo bread recipes, but honestly, I don’t like any of them. When I want bread, I want something that really tastes and acts like bread – and doesn’t cost me $20 in ingredients to put together. Canyon Bakehouse to the rescue. It’s easy to send with the kids if they need to pack a hearty lunch and it makes a nice crunchy slice of toast for a breakfast treat every now and then. I find this locally at Whole Foods in the freezer section with all the other gluten free bread. My favorite part about Canyon Bakehouse is that they don’t use canola oil!

3. Cuisinart mini food processor/chopper – If you’ve read any of my recipes, you’ve certainly see that I recommend using a small chopper/food processor like this one often. I use mine to chop nuts, garlic, ginger, or vegetables. I use it to blend small batches of smoothies or pancake batter. It’s easier to get out and deal with than the big food processor. When you don’t have the time or don’t want to take the time to chop by hand, this little kitchen helper comes in really handy.

4. Coconut Aminos – I can’t sing the praises of this condiment enough. This is your paleo-friendly soy sauce alternative. A coconut derivative, that doesn’t taste anything like coconut, but provides that extra something your dish is asking for, that’s coconut aminos. I add it to almost all of my sauces, salad dressings, and of course, anything with an Asian flare. See it shine in my Asian stir fry recipe or the Summer Salmon Salad I just posted this week. You can find this at Whole Foods, on Amazon, or at Thrive Market (best price is at Thrive). See more on Thrive Market below.

5. Thrive Market. I wrote about Thrive way back when I first started the blog. You can read the article here. In short, Thrive Market is a membership shopping site full of healthy ingredients and health care products. It’s like Costco and Amazon and Whole Foods all rolled into one. I buy almost all of my paleo pantry ingredients from them: coconut milk, maple sugar, arrowroot, coconut aminos, to name a few. I also buy most of my health and beauty care products from Thrive: soap, shampoo, sunscreen and even mineral makeup. If you have never checked them out, I highly recommend it. You can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the ad in my sidebar (or at the bottom of your screen if you’re reading this on your phone). You will get one month free. If you like the service, sign up for a year. All the details are available on their website. One great thing about Thrive is that for every new membership, they give a membership to a family in poverty, who could not otherwise afford some of these healthy ingredients. After using the service for close to a year, I can say that I have never had a bad experience with the products or customer service.

So there you have it, another installment of Friday Favorites. These products/services/entertainment truly are some of my very favorite things. I am not compensated in anyway for sharing my opinion. If you do sign up for Thrive through my link, and eventually start a paid membership, I will receive a small commission.

I hope you find something here that will become one of your favorites too!